Where does Lipizzaner (horse breed) come from?
The Lipizzaner is named after Lipica, a village in the Karst region of today's Slovenia, where the Habsburgs founded a court stud in 1580. Its white stallions later became the stars of Vienna's Spanish Riding School.
A court stud among the lindens
On 19 May 1580 the Habsburg Archduke Charles II signed the contract to acquire the Lipica estate, where the bishops of Trieste had a summer residence and bred horses, and turned it into a court stud. Powerful but agile horses were wanted for the army and for the riding schools of the nobility. Horses were bought in Spain, and Spanish, Barb and Arabian stock was crossed at Lipica. The name Lipica comes from lipa, Slovene for 'linden tree'.
Born dark, turning white
In the 18th century Lipizzaners came in many colours: brown, chestnut, dun, dapple grey and black. According to the Spanish Riding School, not one was white. White became established from the late 1700s into the 1800s, because it was preferred and the grey gene is dominant. Even today foals are born dark, usually bay or black, and turn white between the ages of six and ten. The School always keeps at least one brown stallion in its stables, thought to bring good luck.
Why people think of Vienna
The breed's fame comes from Vienna. The Spanish Riding School, named after the Spanish ancestry of its horses, performs classical dressage with Lipizzaner stallions in the Winter Riding School, completed in 1735. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up after the First World War, the Lipica herd was divided among several countries. Austria kept the School's stallions and some breeding stock, and by 1920 had gathered its breeding stock at Piber, near Graz, where the School's horses are still bred.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org ↗ · lipica.org ↗ · srs.at ↗ · austria.info ↗
